Speakers playing classical music in selected parts of an Australian tourist city have proven to be an overnight success in driving out anti-social elements.

Since mid-November, classical music has played in targeted areas of the Gold Coast once frequented by hoodlums and vagrants, reported the Courier Mail.

Local officials say they are glad of the affect the music has had on these notorious hangout areas in the Southport CBD.

“It’s quite loud and it irritates them so they can’t do what they’re trying to do there,” said Dawn Crichlow from the local council.

“Obviously they’re not fans of classical music,” said Crichlow.

The soothing music played on the speakers include those composed by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Bach. By all accounts, Mozart’s Sonata No. 16 in C Major in well known for its soothing, relaxing qualities.

The councillor said the community had problems associated with people loitering around alleyways and vagrants sleeping in stairwells near the court precinct.

After the scheme was introduced, the Sunday Mail observed that the number of vagrants and loiterers in the area vanished practically overnight.

What the council is now doing is an extension of something they tried a number of years ago.

“About eight years ago we were having major problems with youths and thugs at the bus stops, and I made a flippant remark about blasting them with classical music, but we looked in to it and it worked,” Crichlow said.

“Lately we have been having issues with people loitering around the alleyways and sleeping in stairwells near the court precinct, so I thought why don’t we try the music again?’ she said.

The councilor told the newspaper that there was no great science behind what they were doing but it worked very well.

The newspaper said that move by the council isn’t the first of its kind, with some McDonald’s restaurants around the world playing classical music at night to try and stop antisocial behavior.

In August, police in London said that they were playing classical music from a speaker system into a notori­ous housing estate as a way of addressing crime rates and disperse troublemakers while keeping residents relaxed, reported The Times.

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